What's that? The state capital building, an erection of Huey Long, as I understandt it. Farewell Baton Rouge!What's the verdict? Well, it's the wrong question. The question is whether you have any regrets, whether you wasted your time, whether you worked hard and well but accomplished nothing. No. To all three. I paid with frustration and missed opportunities by being away from The Woman I Love (TWIL) for the greatest part of the last ten months. I have come to dismay over miserable cellphone service that interrupts us twice each evening. I have come to appreciate how greatthe effect of her love and respect is. And I'm grateful for her patience. I've also recalled how much I enjoy an evening to myself, a Saturday without plans, a day filled with movies.
I rewrote a movie script of my own creation, I shot part of a DV movie that may yet acquire a story to go with that footage, I gave what advice I had to the trainer I worked with most closely, I played well with others. And I'm exhausted with the effort of leaving.
I suffer leaving as if it were a physical wound. That's why I did not visit home more often. TWIL was always glad to have me visit, for however short a time. But between the fatigue of arriving (six hours aloft) and the distress of leaving, it offered me real frustration in the 40 hours I was home. I know what you're thinking. I mean psychic frustration.
Even leaving Louisiana was not easy. People were warm and I was appreciated. I will miss is the daily sense of direction and progress that work offers, the pleasure of reliable human contact on a wider scope than home, and the opportunity to influence people.
I will not miss C.M. (See a previous post.) Finally, at the urging of the project leader, I talked with C.M. about our disagreements. We made a lot of progress, but I'd be a simpleton to think it changed her, or me. It comes down to this, in my biased interpretation: C.M. wielded the authority of her office to engineer the perception of success in everything she does. The effect is poor, but the story it allows her to tell is a good one.
2 comments:
Hi John. I found Darkness Visible through Warren's site, and I'm enjoying reading your take on current movies.
This site amuses me--I'm in Boston too, and I grew up in Louisiana.
(FYI, did you see Huey Long's other great contribution to Louisiana architecture while you were there? Pressured to release funds to build more housing at LSU, but with a true politician's devotion to the "popular" in his populist ideology, Long did indeed build a dorm--under the seats of a brand new football stadium for the Tigers. Last time I was there, it was a fresman dorm and either the greatest place to live or the worst on game day, depending on your appreciation for football.)
Can't wait to see you take on All the King's Men when it comes out.
Glad you're back from the boonies and hope you're having fun at expo.
Melanie,
What a strange and wonderful place LA (not L.A.) is.
I'd like to compare notes about what you're writing and what kind of support you have. I'm going to try to reconstitute a screenwriting workshop group that came apart last year.
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